No meat - Low carb, low fat, HIGH protein

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I need to eat much more protein than I’m currently eating, and I need to get it on a budget and without eating meat. I’ve recently added to my regular diet:
Cottage cheese
Spinach
Quark (curd cheese)

What do you guys eat that is low in carbs and fat but high in protein?

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,169 Member
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  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
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    Greek yogurt! Tofu is another good one. Some protein bars have that, and also protein cookie/ nut butters.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,419 Member
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    Read the link Lietchi gave you.

    Another plant-based option is seitan, but if you're avoiding gluten, don't bother. Can you eat eggs?

    If you're looking for vegetarian options that are low in carbs and fat, but high protein, that's a hard-ish thing, beyond lowfat/nonfat dairy. Those 3 are the only macros, right, so if you rule out fat and carbs, you're looking for near-pure protein. Many plant sources of protein, such as legumes, come with at least some carbs.

    Depending on your actual carb goals, subbing higher protein/lower carb options may help bump total protein upward (example: quinoa instead of rice, chickpea pasta instead of wheat pasta, etc.). If you're trying to be purely low(-ish) carb overall, that's tougher, realistically.

    On the vegetable side, there are other things besides spinach that are a bit higher in protein (broccoli comes to mind), but those *tend* to be lower quality proteins (in terms of essential amino acid (EAA) profile).

    I'm hitting 100g+ protein daily as an ovo-lacto vegetarian (5'5", 125-ish pounds, F) on maintenance calories (it was 80s-90s while at a deficit, typically), and I rarely eat eggs. (I never eat protein powder or bars, but only because I don't find them tasty/satisfying. They're also an option. Some vegetarian faux meats are OK on the protein/calorie ratio, but they do tend to be more expensive sources.)

    How much protein are you targeting? Sometimes people aim higher than they need to. This is a research-based, generally considered unbiased source:

    https://examine.com/nutrition/protein-intake-calculator/
    https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
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    Beans and lentils are cheap and high protein, and I also buy dry TVP/TSP (textured vegetable protein/textured soy protein) and add it to stir fried and sauteed veggies for a "meat crumbles" texture and a good protein boost
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
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    Eat fish.
  • DavWillTry
    DavWillTry Posts: 76 Member
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    I just wanted the carbs/fats/protein ratio to look better. So made eggs, cottage cheese and greek yogurt a bigger part of my diet.

    Then I found out how high in sodium regular cottage cheese is (Knudsen = 410mg per serving). Not that I'm on a sodium restricted diet, but I'm going to try "no salt added" cottage cheese (some as low as 55mg per serving).